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IP-CCTV helps reduce crime in Mauritius

“The IndigoVision system has exceeded our expectations in every area.”

The city of Flic en Flac, one of the main tourist areas in Mauritius, has seen crime significantly reduce since installing a distributed surveillance system using IndigoVision’s IP video technology. The new CCTV system is helping police closely monitor criminal behaviour, public safety and manage traffic and parking violations – the security issues facing many urban areas.

“The Government aims at modernising the police force so as to transform it into a service to better serve and protect the public,” said the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, G.C.S.K., at the recent official launching of the CCTV Street Surveillance System at Flic en Flac. The Prime Minister announced that by March 2010, an additional 271 cameras will be installed in Port Louis, the island’s capital and some 70 in Grand Baie, another major tourist zone. This new project will cost around US$4 million.

IndigoVision’s approved partner, Brinks Mauritius, designed and installed the IP video surveillance solution. The system is fully scalable and distributed allowing cameras, recorders and video management workstations to be deployed at any point on the network. Multicast video transmitted from the cameras permits multiple users to view the same camera feed, anywhere on the network. This enables the Mauritius Police to monitor the system from the local Flic en Flac police station and at the Police HQ in Port Louis, which is over 15 kilometres away. A video workstation is also situated in a local administrator’s office, further highlighting the flexibility of the system.

A total of 13 workstations have been deployed running IndigoVision’s Control Center Security Management Software. Control Center software is licensed on an unrestricted basis within the cost of IndigoVision hardware, making the deployment of multiple workstations very cost effective.

Commenting further on the success of the project, Khemraj Lochee, deputy assistant superintendent of Police said, “The IndigoVision system has exceeded our expectations in every area. The video management software is very user friendly and allows our officers to quickly find and analyse stored video following an incident. The video quality is also very good, which considering the network limitations is testament to IndigoVision’s exceptional technology.”

One of the main challenges of the project was to stream multicast video at SIF resolution with less than 1 Mbps per camera, using the existing public network. This was easily achieved, without sacrificing video quality, by deploying IndigoVision’s 9000 series H.264 codecs and utilising features such as activity controlled framerate (ACF). The excellent video compression deployed in the IndigoVision hardware allows DVD quality images to be streamed around the network with minimal bandwidth. This is further reduced by using ACF, which reduces the amount of video that is transmitted from a camera during periods of scene inactivity, such as at night.

Video is recorded using a Windows-based PC server located at the Police HQ. The server has 27 TB of RAID 6 storage and runs IndigoVision’s network video recorder (NVR) software. Features in Control Center allow operators to quickly find video footage and identify potential suspects. Video clips can be exported for evidence in the event of an incident.

A total of 83 cameras consisting of indoor and outdoor, fixed and PTZ domes were installed throughout the city. The majority of the outdoor cameras are mounted on poles overlooking streets and the public beaches at Flic en Flac and Wolmar. Each camera is connected to an IndigoVision 9000 transmitter module and then to a network router.

“The superb video quality and class-leading compression are why the IndigoVision system was ideal for the Flic en Flac project,” added Vikash Augnu, project manager for Brinks Mauritius. “IndigoVision has many field-proven city-wide surveillance projects around the world, so we were confident in offering its technology.”

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